Peptides having a cytostatic activity and/or an antineoplasm activity have been isolated from marine molluscs, sea hare Dolabella auricularia and these peptides are called dolastatins 1 to 15. Among them, dolastatin 10 is a pentapeptide extracted from Dolabella auricularia from the Indian Ocean in 1987 by G. R. Pettit, et al. and having the following structural formula, and is said to be the strongest cytostatic substance presently known (see G. R. Pettit, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 109, 6883 (1987) and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 167278/1992). ##STR9##
Further, recently, publication was made on the total synthesis of dolastatin 10 itself (see, U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,744), but its derivatives have not so far been known at all.
The present inventors had intensely studied about derivatives of dolastatin 10, and as a result they found that certain dolastatin analogs represented by the above formula (I) have a higher cytostatic activity than dolastatin 10. They further found that many of these compounds have a larger therapeutic ratio (maximum effective dose/dose at 30% prolongation of life) and a lower toxicity than dolastatin 10, and are thus excellent as an antitumor agent.
Namely, they found not only that amino acid analogs of dolastatin 10 exhibit a higher activity than the native dolastatin 10, but that the activity is, unexpectedly, extremely increased by introducing a carboxyl derivative into the thiazole ring. Further, they found, throughly astoundingly, that derivatives wherein the thiazole ring is eliminated show extremely higher activity than dolastatin 10.